No TV, radio for suspect in Carnation massacre

Michele K. Anderson, 34, will ask a King County judge to grant her access to radio and television while she awaits trial for the murders of six members of her family. (KIRO Radio Photo/File)

A King County judge ruled Tuesday that a woman suspected of helping to kill six members of her family will not be allowed access to radio and television in jail.

Michele K. Anderson, 34, and her ex-boyfriend, 34-year-old Joseph T. McEnroe, are awaiting trial on six counts of aggravated, first-degree murder for the 2007 shooting deaths of her parents, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew.

In July, defense counsel for Michele Anderson filed a “Motion to Modify Conditions of Confinement” with the King County Superior Court. As part of the motion, her counsel requested that she be provided with a radio and television – or some means to “comfortably watch” a television – and two hours outside of her cell every day.

In court, Anderson made it clear the request was made by her attorneys, not her.

“I don’t want a TV and a radio,” she said to her counsel. “Why would you say things that I didn’t even say?”

It was revealed that Anderson had not spoken to her legal counsel in at least a year and has refused to participate in her defense.

Her counsel claimed that the request was made on her behalf because the conditions of her confinement “ultimately deprive her of her Sixth Amendment right to prepare and present a defense” and “unreasonably restrict her access to outside sensory and cognitive stimulus and human contact.”

The state moved to have the motion denied “without a legal basis.”

Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott O’Toole said that Anderson had chosen to remain in Administrative Segregation while awaiting trial, rather than be placed in the general population. He argued that the King County Jail, not the court, should determine the conditions under which Anderson is confined.

Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell said he understood the difficult situation the defense was in, but sided with the state and denied the request.

In Oct. 2012, accused cop killer Christopher Monfort became the first inmate in the King County Jail to get a television in his cell. Monfort, who has been charged with the murder of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton, was granted a small, color television due to his status as an “ultra-security” inmate. Monfort is paralyzed from the waist down and has little to no interaction with other inmates.

The Seattle Police Department said it strongly opposed the accommodation and, in a statement, said Monfort should “spend less time complaining and more time reflecting on the crimes he committed.”